Our news industry is lobbying for the death of its own freedom
Increased hesitation to bite the hand that feeds it can only be expected in the years ahead
The big fuss concerning the Online News Act may be over, but its most serious repercussions are likely still to come.
Before the year is out, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) aims to develop a code of conduct to which news organizations must adhere when negotiating their share of the loot the government extracted from Google in order to keep shareholders happy at approved news organizations.
The legislation, also known as Bill C-18, prompted Meta to ban the posting of news links in Canada, which it estimated cost the business more than $200 million. After much angst, Google agreed to continue carrying links and coughed up $100 million, not all of which is incremental.
Google is now busy blocking some news links in California, where legislators are also demanding it pay up.
Back home and at least a net $100 million further into the red, the legacy news industry’s finances are, thanks to the legislation they campaigned for, increasingly dependent on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (although they are now looking to expand their vulnerability by lobbying provincial governments too) and the CRTC’s oversight. The latter is developing a news funding regime for all its broadcasters and pondering a do-over of its entire news framework. That could lead to the regulator being pushed by pressure groups to expand its oversight to include the shape of newsrooms housing columnists ranging from Heather Mallick, Rosie Dimanno and Max Fawcett to Andrew Coyne, Brian Lilley and Chris Selley. While that’s not going to happen in the short term, some interests - perhaps even the companies themselves - will inevitably campaign for such oversight down the road - at least if there’s money in it for them.
In the meantime, when it comes to coverage of government funding of journalists, watch for more grateful yarns like this from the Cornwall Seeker. While completely ignoring the idea that media dependence on politicians could be problematic, it kinda proved that it most certainly is when it gushed:
“Since its inception in 2019, the Local Journalism Initiative has been a cornerstone of Canada’s effort to maintain a vibrant local news ecosystem. With today’s extension, the total investment in the initiative reaches an impressive $128.8 million over eight years,” the bylined story stated without attribution. “This initiative is not only about preserving jobs within the journalism sector but also about ensuring that local voices, especially from Indigenous, ethnocultural, official language minority, and 2SLGBTQ+ communities, are heard and represented in the media.”
The curious among you may wish to compare this report to the government news release.
It will be interesting to watch how any future codes of conduct and/or qualification criteria might impact newsrooms. Will the CRTC or Heritage Canada be even more concerned with representation of “equity deserving groups?” Will the Toronto Star and National Observer one day be required to hire conservative columnists in order to maintain their status as a qualified news organization? Will the National Post be required to sign up a couple of lefties? Is the Pope Catholic?
After all, as pointed out in The Hub, more than half the salaries of journalists at legacy news organizations in Canada are now covered through some form of taxpayer subsidy. This makes them less representative of a “free press” and more like the CBC, which, de facto, is a publicly-funded commercial organization disguised as a public broadcaster. If Canada’s progressives are to be asked to subsidize conservative publications (and vice versa) do they not deserve inclusion in their content offerings?
We shall see.
The April 8 edition of The Rewrite took a look at which news organizations in Canada were tracking gender dysphoria policies and developments abroad since Alberta Premier Danielle Smith pointed to them as reasons for her “whoa there” approach.
The next day, Hillary Cass’s long awaited British review into the remarkable increase in children diagnosed with gender dysphoria (up from 50 to 3,000 annually over 15 years) was published. It recommended a great deal of caution and is considered the most significant report on the issue in some time. By week’s end, Belgium and the Netherlands had announced they, too, would be reviewing their policies on the use of puberty blockers.
In our country, Epoch Times Canada was the first to cover the story, Sharon Kirkey wrote on it for National Post, Western Standard readers were informed of it and by the end of the week the Toronto Star’s Rosie Dimanno had made it the subject of her column.
A report in the Calgary Herald, Smith’s former employer, by Catherine Levesque made reference to it but nothing similar was posted on the Edmonton Journal’s website at the time of writing.
City News Toronto carried an Associated Press report concerning the Cass Review but having found no coverage on their sites, The Rewrite assumes editorial decision makers at CBC, Global, CTV, the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star and others did not think a news story on that report was of value to their readers.
Other than those noted, the best sources for people wishing to be fully informed on developments on this front might turn out to be UK and European news websites. With exceptions noted, most Canadian media appear disinterested, perhaps because activists such as Kristopher Wells are working to discredit Cass’s review. Or some reporters may view their role as that of an “ally.” Others may fear being accused of harbouring one of many trendy modern pathologies. Still more may simply worry they will no longer be popular at parties. But that’s their choice. Readers, viewers and listeners will make theirs.
National Post’s Kirkey and Epoch Times Canada, meanwhile, remain pretty lonely in their coverage of Michael Shellenberger’s World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) leaks.
There’s an old saying that “newspapers never report when airplanes land safely.”
In that vein, it’s important for The Rewrite to point to good journalism if it is to achieve its goal of making journalism better.
So, this week, we take a deep bow to Bob Fife, Steve Chase and Sam Cooper.
Fife and Chase, through the Globe & Mail, and Cooper, via Global News and now The Bureau, have negotiated the perilous world of unnamed sources (a future topic) and, with every passing day, their reporting on Chinese election interference in Canada is being validated.
No doubt there is more to come, but this is gritty work which deserves considerable applause. Huzzah. And here’s a tip for young journos: Be less like you-know-who and more like Bob, Steve and Sam.
Then there’s this observation to pass along from a subscriber regarding the lack of tribute for Edmonton broadcast legend Bruce Hogle who passed away recently at the age of 95.
“Sadly he died on the eve of Good Friday.
“CTV, no morning show on the holiday, and recently cancelled their noon news package - and again on a holiday so no 6 pm or 11:30 pm news.
“Then Saturday and Sunday, no news. By Monday I'm guessing they deemed the story outdated so not one second of on air exposure.
“About 40 years of incredible heritage video sat on the hard drives in the building - nothing used.”
I will note that Brittany Ekelund wrote for CTV online regarding Hogle’s passing but, with only former Global rival Tim Spelliscy quoted, it was difficult to feel justice was done to the role Hogle played at CFRN and his legacy.
Cam Tait of the Edmonton Sun left readers with a much richer memory.
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